Honestly, none of this was relatable in any way, at least for me. Are schools really like this now? Or is this what Olivia Wilde thinks schools are like. And this coming of age story is something we’ve all seen before so it’s pretty predictable at times.

But, I’ll be lying if I didn’t enjoy the hell out of it. This thing is way too over the top that I ditched my expectations and just enjoyed the ride. Olivia Wilde’s direction has a lot of funny moments, and also a lot of questionable moments. Most if not all the side characters are good and funny. But the real kicker are the front female leads. Both had great chemistry that it’s easy and a joy to sit through this. Both share the spotlight just enough to get the most out of both of them.

While pretty predictable and nothing new, this film is still a lot of fun and have enough lively characters to standout from the rest of the genre.

Holy sh*t. The action scenes in this series just keeps taking it to the next level. There are so many memorable and jaw-dropping set pieces and one of them is just within the first few minutes.

Again the side characters in this are great. They’re on-screen just enough to not take away from our main man’s spotlight. Halle Berry’s character is badass af, alongside her two pups. Other characters are integrated into the story so well, and we witness John struggle and having to regrasp his ways a bit.

The plot is good. It sticks to exactly what is expected of this world. Honestly, nothing should be surprising how big John Wicks world really is. There’s no source material so they can pretty much bring in anything and I’ll accept it.

I did I have a few problems though: Some of the choreography was a little noticeable, as in some of the moves didn’t exactly line up or were out of sync. The soundtrack in this is pretty good, but nothing that stands out like John Wick: Chapter 2. And I’m indifferent about the ending on this one.

Either way, as of right now, in my opinion, this is the best trilogy out right now. Consistency is key.

John Wick: Chapter 2 takes everything great from the first one and takes it up a notch. Non-stop action. A more focused plot and more development for John Wick and his world.

The cinematography in this is so much better than its predecessor that it leaves gorgeous and more modern shots. This feels like a more modern film and personally, I think it could be timeless in the future.

The soundtrack to this is perfectly fitted with this film. It got rid of those cheesy rock songs that stood out like a sore thumb and gave us something more fitted for Wick’s personality and world. It is up there with one of my favorite soundtracks.

I cannot name a single thing I didn’t like in this. I’m not a very big fan of both Common and Ruby Rose, but I loved their roles in this. Common’s character as an almost equal to Wick and Rose’s character as a badass deaf person. (That sounds weird when written but that’s her character.)

The ending to this is so unexpected and satisfying. I’m still shocked after multiple watches. This is the perfect sequel to an almost perfect film, one of the best sequels made, and possibly, being the best trilogy out there.

“So I guess you have a choice. You want a war? Or do you wanna just give me a gun?”

John Wick blew me away from the first go around. I don’t really gravitate towards these kind of action films, but this just has something to it. Keanu Reeves performance, the choreography, the guns and perfectly executed kills.

One of this films strongest suits is already having John Wick’s legacy established. And we get to witness why everyone’s so afraid after hearing his name. The world of John Wick is also really interesting and leaves the audience wanting to explore more of it.

Some issues I have with this film is the way it starts, I hate it when films start with a scene that’s going to occur later on. I’m indifferent about the soundtrack. While some songs are perfectly fitted for this film, the rock songs with lyrics make this feel like an early-2000’s kind of action film. Last one is the ending fight scene, rain at night is so bad on film, you can’t see a damn thing. Although I can bypass this a little since there’s more close-up slow-mo scenes.

“People keep asking if I'm back. And I haven't really had an answer. But now, yeah, I'm thinkin' I'm back! So you can either hand over your son...or you can die screaming alongside!”

After about 30 mins of this I SPY Pokémon movie, the entertainment value starts to dwindle.

Ryan Reynold’s Pikachu is the only redeeming character in this whole film. I honestly couldn’t remember everyone else’s name while writing this, let’s just say the Pokémon are the only ones caring for. And speaking of writing, this features some cheesy and corny writing. I’d write a line down but forgot most of it by now. The plot is entertaining enough, nothing new or mind blowing. The best thing about this film is definitely the CGI and obviously the Pokémon.

It’s not bad, it’s not great, it’s fine. It could have turned out way worse than it did.

I guess straight-to-Netflix is the new straight-to-DVD. Why does this even feel like a ‘Netflix film’ even when they didn’t make it?

Why do I get the feeling Lily Collins was casted mostly due to her looks than her acting chops? Or that Collins and Efron make a hot on-screen couple that Twitter would swoon over? (For which they did.)

After reading about this film in Jan. 2018, I’ve been anticipating it for quite a while. I’m always saying Zac Efron is underrated and just needs that right script for him to shine, hoping this was it, but this didn’t do him any favors. It’s not bad, but just not enough to keep me invested and engaged.

I honestly couldn’t tell what this movie wanted to do. It should have gone more in-depth into Bundy’s acts and should have gone on for another hour. But here’s hoping to keep milking these Bundy craves until another film gets it right. 🥂

The restoration is amazing. It’s almost as if all of this was just filmed a few years ago and not 50. Needs captions though because it’s hard to comprehend most words. Or my hearing just sucks since all the old people in my theater were laughing at things I didn’t understand.

Plot: ‘First Man’ takes us on a journey of the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong. We are introduced to almost everything Armstrong had to encounter and all the obstacles faced in order for the ‘Apollo 11’ mission to take place. Because this is Armstrong’s story, we are given an in-depth look of what his life was like outside of NASA; his home, his family, and his friends.

Execution of Plot: This isn’t the sci-fi space drama/thriller that is ‘Interstellar’ or ‘The Martian,’ nor is it the overly dramatic mission film ‘Apollo 13.’ This is about a man most Americans would deem a “hero.” An American Hero. And I would be willing to bet most of those people did not have a clue what Neil Armstrong was really like or what he went through. I was one of those people. I had no idea Armstrong was such a stoic man and exactly what lead to him to be as such. The death of his daughter, the deaths of his friends, coworkers, and those closest to him. And wow, did this film perfectly showcase that. The deaths are chilling because we know that they are real. We know the cost NASA and Armstrong went through. There’s a sense of heartbreaking after each death even when the characters have little screen time. And we can sense the sadness and hardships through Goslings stoic portrayal.

Acting and Characters: Ryan Gosling ends up being just the right guy to portray Neil Armstrong. Most people who knew Armstrong described him as “stoic.” And viewing Gosling’s past film roles, he becomes the obvious choice. Another great casting was Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin. (The villain from the first ‘Ant-Man.’) Most people who knew Buzz Aldrin describe him as pretty much the opposite of Armstrong; a guy who says what he thinks and, kind of a dick, and Stoll portrays that that great. Claire Foy and Jason Clarke also have notable roles where Foy portrays Armstrong’s wife, “Janet,” and Clarke portrays astronaut, “Ed White.” The rest of the cast are pretty well stacked and work perfectly with their script.

Directing: Damien Chazelle ditches his ‘Whiplash’ and ‘La La Land’ directing styles and goes for a handheld 16mm, 35mm and 70mm for most of the third act. This style ends up working brilliantly by setting the time for everything on Earth, and being visually stunning for the ‘Apollo 11’ launch sequence and moon landing. Another brilliant decision was instead of using a green screen, they used a huge LED screen to project most of the in air/in space shots.

Music: Damien Chazelle’s film and composing partner, Justin Hurwitz, is back with a breathtaking musical score. Two main instruments used throughout the theme are the harp and the theremin. The harp is mostly used when the film is focused on Armstrong’s home, and the theremin is mostly used for the space scenes. The score remains calm and grounded for the first two acts of of the film, with the exceptions of “Docking Waltz,” and “Spin.” And those two exceptions work so well with their accompanied sequences. Towards the third act is when the score picks up and turns into a loud score for a space film. “Apollo 11 Launch” and “The Landing” are the two standouts from this act and are so beautifully and brilliantly orchestrated and fitting. The film ends with “Quarantine,” a song consisting of just the harp and theremin, and is the perfect way to the end the film.

Why you should watch this film: If you are interested in NASA, space, and space programs, you should watch this regardless. Now if those aren’t selling points to watch this, then you should watch this simply because it’s a brilliant and beautiful film about the first man to step foot on our moon. It’s well put together by everyone in front and everyone behind the camera. Yes, this is a biographical drama of a stoic man, but that stoic man lived a tough life that many people do not know about. There are some people who found this film “boring,” but give it a shot. Everyone could take at least one thing away from this whether that’d be Ryan Gosling’s acting, Damien Chazelle’s directing, or Justin Hurwitz’s score. I personally took in all of this and for me, ended up being a perfect film and cemented itself as one of my favorites.

This is literally just like The Nun from last year. Although I think The Nun is probably a bit better. This movie definitely has an interesting premise. But that whole premise is ruined with cheap jump scares, these demon movie cliches, and just bad writing. I would say this film is pretty fast paced, but that’s because once it hits its third act, it drags on forever. And once the third act starts, they decided to add comedy into it. There was literally no comedy in it before. So once they start getting down with all the “La Llorona” stuff, they start making jokes out of nowhere. What the fuck?! WHO WROTE THIS?

A good thing about this movie? The child actors aren’t that bad. Linda Cardellini’s on screen for the most part. And the sound designs honestly really good. So if you were to watch this, spend those extra bucks for IMAX.

I was about to give up on James Wan, but then I realised that although his name is literally plastered everywhere, he’s just the producer. Not the writer or director. But you know who is the director? The guy who is about to direct The Conjuring 3. So I guess the curse is on us?

If they had gotten Alfonso Cuarón to write and direct this, then I bet that would have made me crap my pants. The Prisoner of Azkaban still creeps me the hell out to this day. What better than a native who’s most likely heard of this folklore and actually has decent movies on his resume.

Personally, this movie suffers from its runtime. 90 minutes to develop this love story and the characters just didn’t cut it. I don’t even think I remember any names. And the cuts and time jumps were also really odd. Right when I’m intrigued, nope just cut it there and skip a year that’s fine.

However, as far as 2018 B&W foreign-language films go, this one ends up on top.

This film would have been so much better if it remained focused throughout its runtime and just focused on just the main lead and his story. There’s bits that goes into other inmates that I did not care about. This thus includes side characters which I didn’t care about and couldn’t remember their names. I kept thinking, “ya know, it is a prison film so there’s not really much they can do with it.” But then I remember The Shawshank Redemption and just think, “damn, that was damn good prison film.”

I get what the plot was going for, but it does it in a way that isn’t quite memorable.

There were some things that I liked about it though. The music was really nice. It set the tone nicely. The cinematography is soo good. And the main lead Matthias Schoenaerts is great in this. He really got into character. I would have never guessed it was the same guy from Red Sparrow and The Danish Girl.

Slightly better than the first Ant-Man thanks to Evangeline Lilly’s ‘Wasp.’ Also it was nice to not have a big main villain and instead gives us an extra hero(?).

The problem with this movie though, is while it does mainly focus on one objective, there’s just way too many things going on. Too many characters. Walton Goggins was great but he didn’t need to be in this. I think they probably just used him and his crew to fill the villain role and give the plot a longer runtime.

This still has its funny and great moments but it’s also pretty forgettable just like its predecessor. Also there’s a lot of questions left unanswered about that ending.

I honestly can’t tell what Warner Bros are doing with their DC Universe. Do they want to be dark or lighthearted/funny or somewhere in between? Either way this was pretty fun.

The writing in this isn’t that great. And it’s obvious because they tried to fit so much that you can feel that 2 hour runtime. And I absolutely HATE the music choices they make for these DC movies. After watching a video breaking down how they use their song choices, I notice it more often now. We get it WB, you can license any song you want.

I was honestly surprised how much I laughed while watching this. Again while the writing wasn’t that great, there were some pretty moments. Especially a scene near the end.

Eh, I had a good time watching this. But now I’m curious where they’re going to take this.

*Disclaimer: I have not read the book and haven’t seen the previous film in forever.

If you have seen 1 of the 1000 trailers they busted out for this film, then you have pretty much seen the whole movie. But I’m sure most people are familiar with the story and concept of Pet Semetary. And this film doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. In fact, it leaves out a lot of the mythology and explanations. It simply glosses over anything of importance and anything actually interesting.

The first few minutes I started nitpicking a little, but then it just got out of hand and was just like BRUHHH. There were too many things that I just found dumb. I could go on and on but I’ll be getting into spoiler territory, so I’ll list a few: the way our main lead finds out about the “Pet Semetary,” a side plot that involves the wife, and not really plot wise, but there’s more jump scares than necessary.

Was there anything I liked? The little kid was cute. He was the only character I liked but he barely had screen time. The acting wasn’t that bad from everyone else. There was one pretty funny line. The sound editing and music were okay.

I’ve seen most people say the 3rd act is where it starts to get good. But this movies about 90 minutes long and it’s too late in the movie for it to be worth it.

I think the trailers I got before the movie were more interesting than the film itself.

- 🛑💻 Not worth watching in theaters or at all, but if you must, at least wait until it’s streaming.

19 films later, 10 years in the making, and and we’re presented with one of the best films of the decade. Changing the game. And just like the first Avengers, makes an impact in cinematic history, whether you like it or not.

With 20+ important developed characters, and one big main character, it was a smart decision to mainly focus on the Guardians, Thor, and Ironman’s storyline. With everyone else back on Earth not getting their screen time until the last couple of minutes. You look at the poster and there was literally no other way the Russo Brothers could have gone with this.

I honestly don’t know where to start, because I could talk about this for hours. Straight off the bat we’re put into some action and introduced to Thanos and his Children. There are some slow parts in order to build Thanos and reintroduce everyone, but after that, this does not stop. Great action piece after action piece. Just when you think, “oh that scene can’t be topped,” think again because the next scene takes it up a notch. I still can’t decide which scenes my favorite, they’re all pretty good. You can tell everyone in front and behind the camera gave it their all. It’s funny, emotional, and serious once our heroes realise what’s at stake.

The only downside to this film as a whole is it cannot stand on its own. Which is pretty much a given since this is a culmination of the MCU as of now. But you cannot go into this and get the full experience without seeing all the previous MCU films, with some exceptions.

And let’s take a moment to appreciate the fantastic score that accompanied the film.

This is a straight up masterpiece within the MCU. The only reason I could see someone not liking this is; if they don’t like superhero/comic book movies, which is understandable, or they haven’t seen the previous MCU films, or they went into this looking to dislike it just to take the piss out of the MCU fans. There is at least one thing anyone could like out of this and even more if you want a great time with a film. Endlessly quotable and endlessly rewatchable.

“Would you ever wish to be able to watch a film for the first time again?” My answer to that question has always been no, simply because I learn to appreciate and notice things I haven’t before on a rewatch. But I think I found the one film for that question, Avengers: Infinity War. Infinity War is just different. I went into this as blind as a bat and was I blown away every single second. The build up and the wait was all worth it.

]]>gustavobruh2018 Films Ranked (Revised)https://embed.letterboxd.com/gustavobruh/list/2018-films-ranked-revised/ letterboxd-list-3377127Mon, 24 Dec 2018 13:45:24 +1300After much thought, this is my final ranking of 2018 films. Ranked by my enjoyment and remembrance of them, but also how much of it stands as being a worthy of a watch or purchase.

]]>gustavobruhMCU Rankedhttps://embed.letterboxd.com/gustavobruh/list/mcu-ranked-1/ letterboxd-list-3348822Tue, 18 Dec 2018 00:43:28 +1300Final ranking. After watching every film multiple times and marathoning them on the road to the Endgame, this is my final ranking and highly doubt it’ll change.

]]>gustavobruhSpace films that make me question whether or not I want to tour space with Jeff Bezos space program, “Blue Origin.”https://embed.letterboxd.com/gustavobruh/list/space-films-that-make-me-question-whether/ letterboxd-list-3555602Thu, 17 Jan 2019 10:55:20 +1300Space Related Films: I’m a sucker for a film set in space. A film exploring the unknown and beauty of the infinite space that surrounds us.